John Dramani Mahama, the former president, has recently faced criticism for remarks he made regarding the integrity of the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The overwhelming passes obtained in the 2023 WASSCE led the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 flagbearer to express doubts about the validity of the findings.
Mahama warned of possible repercussions for the nation’s educational system after claiming to have seen instances of inadequate monitoring and teacher participation in student cheating.
“In many places, they let the children cheat. You go to places, and the teachers are conniving with the students to cheat. The effect will be seen later,” Mahama said.
Vice President Bawumia, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Education Ministry, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the NPP’s regional chairman, Abronye DC, are among those criticising him.
They contend that by disparaging the young SHS graduates’ efforts, who had done well on their pre-tertiary exams, Mahama was undermining their accomplishments. Some even went so far as to claim that Mahama was merely trying to undermine the achievements of the government’s Free SHS initiative.
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WAEC video on irregularities during 2023 WASSCE
In a video posted on the exam’s official YouTube channel from September 2023, John K. Kapi, WAEC Ghana’s Head of Public Affairs, acknowledged that schools had assisted pupils in cheating on the tests.
The general update on the conduct of the 2023 WASSCE for School Candidates was given in the WAEC Conference Room.
“Some of the schools have devised grand schemes for cheating at their examination centers,” he said adding that schools charged students between 500-1000 cedis to help them get assistance during examinations.
He continued by saying that schools had become hostile towards WAEC monitoring teams and that people had been imprisoned for trying to buy off the monitors.
He also discussed the prevalence of foreign materials on candidates entering the rooms and other breaches, such as photographs of questions taken by invigilators and shared on social media.
Kapi also reported on the smuggling of electronic devices and cell phones into hallways, as well as the insertion of scripts and impersonation.
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